Newbie from Hawaii looking to start BRRRRing OOS

Newbie from Hawaii looking to start BRRRRing OOS

Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes

Aloha from Honolulu, Hawaii!

I am an "older" newbie (51 years young) who only recently discovered the wealth building potential of REI. My journey began a short 7 months ago after I spoke to a financial adviser. Looking at my numbers and being that my wife and I really have no debt (mortgage is paid off, no car loans, kids are grown and on their own), I was able to retire from the Honolulu Police Department with a pretty good pension and access to quite a bit of saved up cash. It was then that I was introduced to REI to create passive income.

After being introduced to REI, I began to educate myself as best as I could on the subject. I guess you could say I started to do my due diligence before fully jumping in. My financial adviser's plan was for me to purchase several properties and first trust deeds, both in and outside of a recently opened self-directed IRA. I later discovered that I would be purchasing turnkey properties. I guess this was a good idea for a beginner such as myself to get my feet wet. The plan was to slowly snowball a few properties to a point where I would gradually build my wealth over the course of ten years or so. Great I thought! Passive income plus all the perks that comes with "smart" REI!

I listened to several podcasts and youtube videos and started to learn. Reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad and opened my eyes immensely to what I needed to do…purchase cash flowing assets that would pay for my expenses and liabilities and allow my wife and me to build our wealth.

A few months ago, I found the Bigger Pockets platform on youtube, which led me to the website. I immersed myself in the myriad of topics in the forums, blogs, and podcasts. This led me to the BRRRR method of REI. After listening to Brandon Turner and David Greene explain BRRRR, I purchased and read the book BRRRR and am convinced this is the direction I want to go.

So here I am today, introducing myself to the community and ready to pull the trigger on my first BRRRR investment. We all had to take that first step at some time, right?

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Rental Property Investor · Honolulu, HAWAII (HI) · Member since 2011 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y

@Allan Kuaana You should likely get rid of the financial planner as I have a rule where I don't take financial advice from someone who is not financially free or got rich on the old 2% commission 20% override on you investments.

Hawaii is a primary markets which is NOT ideal for cashflow investing.

Sophisticated investors invest on cashflow where the rents exceed the mortgage plus expenses (and enough money to pay for professional property manage to do our dirty work). They don't gamble and pay active income taxes and go after flips or appreciation.

Sophisticated investors look at the Rent-to-Value Ratio and look for at least 1% or more to be able to cashflow after expenses. 

See this reply in the discussion

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  • Contractor · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2019 · 80 posts · 70 votes
    6y

    @Allan Kuaana Right on. Good luck on your journey, Allan! I am not an expert @ BRRRRs, but I agree with your thought process. If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to help, just let me know. Aloha!

  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    @Manaia Alalamua Hello and thank you. I will definitely let you know if I have any questions. Take care.

  • Michael BorgerPro Member
    Rehabber · San Diego, CA · Member since 2010 · 502 posts · 208 votes
    6y

    Welcome to the island REI scene, @Allan Kuaana - as your title mentions, you'll almost certainly be looking out of state given the local price points. Good luck - lots of markets to research and choose from.

  • Real Estate Agent · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 60 posts · 40 votes
    6y

    Aloha Allan! If you are interested in BRRRR, @Robert Koncal is having a BRRRR meetup tomorrow evening in town. Probably a great place to get more info and make some contacts! 

    https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/801913-out-of-state-brrrr-local-market


  • Investor · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 46 posts · 11 votes
    6y

    Aloha @Allan Kuaana,

    Welcome to BP. I would be very happy to see you at our event tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

    Thank you

    @John Rankin

  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    @John Rankin Aloha John and thank you reaching out to me and for the invite. When and where is the meet up? Are there a lot of folks who attend?

  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    @Robert Koncal Aloha Robert! Thank you for kindly reaching out.

  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    @John Rankin loL...i was too anxious to reply before I looked a the link. Hahaha. This sounds good. I’ll be there!

  • Investor · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 46 posts · 11 votes
    6y

    @Allan Kuaana, I am looking forward to see you tomorrow. 

  • Real Estate Agent · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2015 · 450 posts · 196 votes
    6y

    @Allan Kuaana I've done BRRRR's out of state and with larger multifamily as well. Let me know if you want to connect!

  • Rental Property Investor · Honolulu, HAWAII (HI) · Member since 2011 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    6y

    @Allan Kuaana You should likely get rid of the financial planner as I have a rule where I don't take financial advice from someone who is not financially free or got rich on the old 2% commission 20% override on you investments.

    Hawaii is a primary markets which is NOT ideal for cashflow investing.

    Sophisticated investors invest on cashflow where the rents exceed the mortgage plus expenses (and enough money to pay for professional property manage to do our dirty work). They don't gamble and pay active income taxes and go after flips or appreciation.

    Sophisticated investors look at the Rent-to-Value Ratio and look for at least 1% or more to be able to cashflow after expenses. 

  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    Aloha Lane!  I've have seen many of your posts and your words of wisdom.  Thank you for offering your thoughts regarding a financial advisor.  I have already taken heed to what is happening and hope I am on the right track.  In just a few short months, I have come to understand what my financial advisor is advising me to do.  In a nutshell, I am purchasing turnkey rentals in Alabama and Missouri.  That's cool for me for the moment as I am really new to all of this and perhaps there are many ways to get to where we individually wish to go.

    However, I do wish to be more involved. Instead of passively giving the profits of the "flip" to the turnkey company (which my investor does get their cut), I'd much rather do my best to take the "profit"/the money I put into the deal and reinvest it again. And this is why I am venturing in the the BRRRR method of REI.

    Funny thing is when I told my investor that I wanted to keep some of my money liquid to venture into BRRRR, the person didn't know what BRRRR was. I'm sure they did, but probably didn't hear the acronym "BRRRR".

    I am open to any of your thoughts regarding BRRRR.

    Thank you and take care,

    Allan

  • Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    That's great @Allan Kuaana, now is better than never! Have you ever considered investing in the Columbus, OH market? 

  • Remington LymanBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    6y

    @Allan Kuaana Welcome to the site!

  • Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Allan Kuaana:

    Aloha from Honolulu, Hawaii!

    I am an "older" newbie (51 years young) who only recently discovered the wealth building potential of REI. My journey began a short 7 months ago after I spoke to a financial adviser. Looking at my numbers and being that my wife and I really have no debt (mortgage is paid off, no car loans, kids are grown and on their own), I was able to retire from the Honolulu Police Department with a pretty good pension and access to quite a bit of saved up cash. It was then that I was introduced to REI to create passive income.

    After being introduced to REI, I began to educate myself as best as I could on the subject. I guess you could say I started to do my due diligence before fully jumping in. My financial adviser's plan was for me to purchase several properties and first trust deeds, both in and outside of a recently opened self-directed IRA. I later discovered that I would be purchasing turnkey properties. I guess this was a good idea for a beginner such as myself to get my feet wet. The plan was to slowly snowball a few properties to a point where I would gradually build my wealth over the course of ten years or so. Great I thought! Passive income plus all the perks that comes with "smart" REI!

    I listened to several podcasts and youtube videos and started to learn. Reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad and opened my eyes immensely to what I needed to do…purchase cash flowing assets that would pay for my expenses and liabilities and allow my wife and me to build our wealth.

    A few months ago, I found the Bigger Pockets platform on youtube, which led me to the website. I immersed myself in the myriad of topics in the forums, blogs, and podcasts. This led me to the BRRRR method of REI. After listening to Brandon Turner and David Greene explain BRRRR, I purchased and read the book BRRRR and am convinced this is the direction I want to go.

    So here I am today, introducing myself to the community and ready to pull the trigger on my first BRRRR investment. We all had to take that first step at some time, right?

     Welcome to the site Allan. Many markets available for out of state investors living in a high cost market like yourself. Cleveland is the one I am most familiar with and it's also very popular with investors across the USA so I figured you'd get some value out of reading The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods. I also have similar guides that you may want to look over for Kansas City, Missouri. & Birmingham, Alabama.

    In addition there are tons of other turnkey markets out there besides those listed above. Many of these markets are very well represented by sellers & turnkey operators here on BiggerPockets. In no particular order I have listed some of the most popular markets for out of state investors

    • Cincinnati, Ohio
    • Dayton, Ohio
    • Toledo, Ohio
    • Youngstown, Ohio
    • Cincinnati, Ohio
    • Memphis, Tennessee
    • Saint Louis, Missouri
    • Indianapolis, Indiana
    • Detroit, Michigan
    • Erie, Pennsylvania
    • Louisville, Kentucky
    • Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    • Jackson, Mississippi

    Each of these markets is popular with turnkey investors because of the low barrier to entry, high rental demand & high rent to price ratio. I recommend setting up keyword alerts for each area as they are discussed in the forums daily with advertisements posted in the BiggerPockets marketplace hourly.

    One thing to note when looking at the individual markets, you can make or lose money in any market. Don't think that one particular out of state market will shoot you to success or abject failure. It's not really that complicated to buy out of state. It only becomes complicated when investors try to over complicate or over think everything. Whenever you are buying a property out of state you should do a few things to ensure it's as smooth as possible.

    • Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core. Pick a solid B-Class suburban area. Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.
    • Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home. The reports are 40-90 pages long and go through the entire house in great detail.
    • Get an appraisal. If your using financing the bank requires this. This is good. The bank isn't going to let you blow their money. They have more skin in the game then you do.
    • Make sure you get clear title. If using a lender this is a non issue. They will make you do this. It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.
    • Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.
    • Google Clayton Morris and/or Morris Invest for a cautionary tale of what not to do when buying turnkey real estate
    • Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it. If you are risk averse, real estate, (especially out of state) is not for you.
  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    @Remington Lyman Hello Remington and thank you. Glad to be here.

  • Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 18 posts · 19 votes
    6y

    @James Wise. Hello James and thank you very much for a warm welcome and for the great tips for a somewhat new out of estate investor such as myself.

  • New to Real Estate · Southworth, WA · Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 2 votes
    6y

    Great intro Allen. Very excited for you and your wife and the opportunities that lie ahead. I also am new to REI and looking at BRRRs as my strategy, sounds like your a couple steps ahead of me. Coincidentally, I am in Honolulu for work right now and have been spending my time off on BP soaking up as much as I can as well as looking for deals from afar. Good luck, I'll be following your success.

  • Rental Property Investor · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 179 posts · 91 votes
    6y

    Hey @Allan Kuaana welcome! I remember when I first learned about rei, it was very exciting! If you want to connect, let me know. I’m looking out of state as well and have done one so far. Definitely going to meetups is a good place to start and grow your network. Best of luck!

  • Big island, HI · Member since 2019 · 9 posts · 4 votes
    6y

    @Allan Kuaana

    Aloha Allan! Welcome to the bigger pockets community. Always great to see fellow investors from Hawaii of the site! Best of luck to yah!!!

  • Real Estate Agent · Kansas City · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    @Allan Kuaana

    Happy to chat. Very familiar with BRRR and OOS. Kansas City is a pretty good market for it :)

  • Lender · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 166 posts · 46 votes
    6y

    Aloha @Allan Kuaana. I'm a little late to the post, but wanted to say welcome! Always good seeing local people getting serious about real estate.

  • Real Estate Agent · Ewa Beach, HI · Member since 2020 · 46 posts · 20 votes
    6y

    Hey Allan, I also live on Oahu and I buy properties back in Virginia.  Started looking in the Dallas Fort Worth area as well.  Just took a trip out there to see family and friends and looked around a bit.  I haven't done any BRRRs yet, but I want to.  I just started out myself so I only have 2 doors at the moment.  I am working on my real estate license here and plan to do that full time when I retire from my main job.  Hope to see you around sometime.  I plan on attending some of the Bigger Pockets meetups in the area, but so far my schedule always conflicts (missed the one this week because I was in TX).  Aloha!

  • Investor · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 46 posts · 11 votes
    6y

    @Mike Cavaggioni there is a meet up coming up on March 19th, from 6 pm if interested. More details in event section or shoot me a message and I will send you all the details. 

  • Real Estate Agent · Ewa Beach, HI · Member since 2020 · 46 posts · 20 votes
    6y

    @Robert Koncal Thursday evenings are always tied up for me. 😢

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